


the way things slide back into place

by lumarkle



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Fluff, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-05 11:17:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18827611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lumarkle/pseuds/lumarkle
Summary: it’s been months since yukhei left for china to chase his dreams of debuting with wayv, leaving renjun alone and missing his boyfriend in korea, feeling him fade away more and more everyday until, finally, he comes home and all the pieces renjun was missing slide back into place.





	the way things slide back into place

**Author's Note:**

> kinda bad kinda soft i dunno

renjun was positive that if his heart beat any faster than it was now, it would launch straight out of his chest and fall, still hammering away, right into his lap.

 _it hasn’t even been that long,_ he chastises himself. just a few months is all the time that had passed since his boyfriend returned to their home country, chasing down his dreams and debuting in their group’s chinese subunit, leaving renjun behind in korea.

renjun thinks its it’s funny, really, how well you think you know the people that you love the most. renjun was sure that he knew yukhei like the back of his hand, but it was just a little over a week and a half since he’d left when renjun was desperately grasping at memories, trying to remember how it felt when yukhei’s long-fingered hands smoothed over the plain of his back.

but no matter how far renjun stretched out his own fingers, he couldn’t seem to reach that memory since yukhei had left, and so his touch faded until renjun was sure he’d never felt so cold.

and so, more quickly than renjun could catch him, yukhei faded away. not literally of course - he always made time to talk to renjun no matter how busy he became - but the clothes he’d left behind no longer smelled like him after some time and wearing them no longer eased the ache in renjun’s chest. he could scarcely remember how it felt to kiss yukhei, or to hold his hand.

eventually, renjun struggled to remember the sound of yukhei’s voice when it wasn’t distorted from the other end of a phone call. then, renjun had really started to panic when yukhei’s face slowly ebbed away, softening and blurring at the edges of his memory like renjun was looking at him through a fog.

but none of that mattered now. the time between when yukhei left and when he returned had always been ambiguous to them both, but suddenly it had a definite number.

“i’ll be home in a week,” yukhei had told him, sounding exhausted despite the obvious grin in his voice. “in a week, jun. i can’t wait to see you.”

that week had shortened so quickly that renjun felt like he was chained to a race car, being dragged along at a whirlwind pace through those seven days until they had shortened to nothing but a few minutes.

minutes.

renjun sat on his bed, jiggling his leg and rising from his seat every few minutes to nervously rearrange things just to sit back down again and drum his fingers on his thighs.

just minutes. surely he was here by now, what was taking so long?

before his nervousness could dull into impatience, the front door opened on the other side of the dorm and renjun froze. incoherent but boisterous voices reached renjun’s ears and his breath thinned out, excited and terrified and oh, god, yukhei.

renjun’s heart picks up its pace until he thought it was amazing that it hadn’t imploded. he hears shoes being kicked off and then heavy footsteps coming closer, closer, closer. renjun feels like he might cry but he holds off, staring at the open door to his bedroom as the floorboards creak just outside and then, there he is.

his head appears first, grinning from ear to ear and renjun swears his heart restarts.

“hi,” yukhei greets him, voice so low that it sends shivers down renjun’s back. he steps into the doorframe and renjun feels his whole body flush as he takes him in. had he gotten taller?

“hey,” renjun says back, softer, and trying to appear nonchalant. “you look...” he starts, beginning to grin as he eyes yukhei up and tries to think up the right word.

he looks so much older, somehow. last time renjun had seen him his hair had been choppy and short- boyish, and now it was long and gelled back to reveal his face, scrunchy eyed and baby-faced but somehow looking so much older, so much more mature. he feels like yukhei left as a boy and returned as a man.

“handsome?” yukhei offered after a moments silence, and they both laughed. renjun rose from his bed and opened his arms wide, feeling his eyes well up as yukhei eagerly bounded forward and wrapped him up in his arms.

“hmm,” the older boy hummed as he squeezed renjun in his arms and pressed his face into his hair. “i’ve missed you, junnie.”

renjun sniffles discreetly, clinging to yukhei like he might start to fade away again. he breathes in the smell of his cologne and laundry detergent like it was the first time he’d had him this close, burying his fingers into the fabric of his sweater and just squeezing, squeezing, squeezing. refusing to let go.

yukhei pulls back after a moment to look at the younger’s face and smiles fondly, holding renjun’s chin between his forefinger and thumb before he moves to trace the pad of his fingertip over his boyfriend’s wobbling bottom lip. “cute,” he mumbles, eyes shiny as they flick up to meet renjun’s. he is looking at him like he hung the stars in the sky and renjun is so overwhelmed that he doesn’t worry about yukhei’s romantic build up and stands on his toes, holding his boyfriend by the sides of his face and feverishly pressing their lips together.

yukhei kisses him back when the fleeting feeling of shock subsides, a small smile pulling at his lips when he slants his mouth against renjun’s. his hands fold around the curves of his boyfriend’s waist and pull him impossibly close, worried he might never be able to let go ever again. not when he’s here, in his arms, kissing him like that. all the pieces renjun felt like he was missing slowly slide back into place with a satisfying click.

“i missed you too,” renjun pants when he pulls away, growing shy under yukhei’s hazy brown eyes. “so much.”

yukhei grins and runs his thumb over the smaller’s blushing cheek, and renjun can’t help but think of how ridiculously sappy this all is when yukhei murmurs, “i’m here now,” and then quickly thumbs away at the big fat happy tears threatening to spill from renjun’s eyes.

they fall back into renjun’s bed and lie there for hours, curled into each others sides, yukhei rambling about his time in china while renjun ruins his slick hairstyle by twirling strands of long black hair around his finger.

by the time yukhei finally passes out, renjun is still wide awake and smoothing his hair away from his face, admiring the soft lines of his face when he sleeps, looking so much younger than he had when he’d first popped up in the doorway, so much more familiar.

so renjun tucks himself beneath one heavy arm and stays as close to yukhei’s chest as he possible can, feeling the rise and fall of it on his back as he breathes and the steady lull of his heartbeat in his ears.

and for the first time in months, renjun feels his heartbeat grow slower and slower, drifting off to sleep beside his flesh-and-blood home.


End file.
